Barbed-wire fence builder



May 22, 1951 w. s. FRITZ BARBED WIRE FENCE BUILDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed March 26, 1949 INVENTOR. \MLLIAM 5. FRITZ May 22, 1951 w. s. FRITZBARBED WIRE FENCE BUILDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 26, 1949INVENTOR. \MLLIAM 5. FRITZ ATT'UEWEY Patented May 22, i951 UNITED STATESPATENT QFFICE William SaFritz, Morrisville, Pa., assignorof'onehalf 150Sophie Dabrowski, Long" Island City,

Application March26, 1949, .SerialNm. 83.569

4' Claims.- I

The subject of this invention is a novel and valuable appliance forstringingibarbed' wire and the like from post to post in buildingafence.

The aim of the invention is'to provide a simple and inexpensiveappliance, which is easily portable by hand, yetwhich is rugged inconstruction and conveniently and expeditiously employable in performingthe usually most difficult and sometimes hazardous work of stringingbarbed wire with the tautness-required.

More specifically, the: aim of the present invention is to provide asimplified and improved appliance, characterized by the inclusion of ayoke or tongs structure the two post engaging jaws of which areinterpivoted, and in association therewith a means, as one including amanually turnable screw, for fitting and clamping said jaws to the post;the foregoing in combination with an auxiliarystructure offset andpivotally mounted, preferably by a pintle-including mounting means, onone of said jaws adjacent to its outer end, said auxiliary structurecarrying the means for tautening the wire and having the axis of saidpintle or the like substantially at right angles to the planes of gripof said jaws on those opposite sides of the post the general places ofextension of which would, in the case of a post of fair regularrectangular cross-section, be substantially perpendicular to thedirection of extension of the wire being applied.

Also included in the new combination and carried by said auxiliarystructure, is a slide, this movable along a line substantially parallelto the direction of extension of the pivotal axis relative to which theauxiliary structure is mounted on the tongs structure; said auxiliarystructure being further provided with a manually turnable screw meansfor advancing the slide in wire tautening direction, and said'slidecarrying in a conveniently accessible locationv a gripper including tworelatively adjustable parts the movable one of which is preferably a camlatch. Such gripper is for seizing a portion of the Wire not yet butshortly to be stapled to the post, this wire seizure being eifected at apoint conveniently ahead of the intended placement of such stapling. Aswill later become apparent, the mounting of the auxiliary structure onthe tongs structure allows perfect functioning of the new device wherethe post is of exceedingly irregular contour at various points along itslength and so of varying cross-section, as in the case of postconstituted by a tree branch stripped of outgrowths' and barked; and themounting of ',the

gripper relative to the last-named screw is such that for. slightpost-surface irregularities there is ample play for properlytauteningawire" and also for placing a portion of the wire aheadof itspointofseiz'ureby the gripper properly against the portion of the length ofthe post to which the wire-isto be stapled;

For further comprehension of the invention, andlof." the objects. and"advantages thereof, reference will behad .to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novelfeatur'es of the invention are. more, particularlyset'forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material partof this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is'a view showing, partially'in' perspective and partially intransverse section, a fence post, and further showing, in perspective, anow favo'red' embodiment. of the appliance of the invention temporarily;applied to said postfor" use to tauten' a'barbed' wire priortoattachment of the latter to the post by'meansof one or more staples. orthelike;

Fig? 2 Ba top" planview of'said appliance; detached; 'with'a sleeveelement thereof shown'par tially broken away and partially in section.

Fig. 3 s'ideelevationall'y showsthe parts of Fig. 2, with the post'indicated in" dot and dash lines.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view' of a screw barrel carrying atitstop'saidsleeve element;

Fig.5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view, this showing said barrelinlongitudinal section, at avertic'al diametra'l plane with the-partsarranged'as in Figs: 1-3;

Fig. 6 is a transversevertical section taken on the line'E -6- of Fig.5.

Fig: 7 is an elevational View showing the appliance applied" as in Figs.1 and 3; looking in the directionof the arrow 1 of Fig. 1.

Referring'to the-drawings more in detail, and assuming that the postshown, this designated I ii", is thBDOStf to which a'strand of wire I I,having I barbs ,H spaced therealong, isto be secured.

following an extremetautening of said wire from its previous-point ofanchorage as along a fence line, thealready mentioned tongs structure,this as'a whole marked 12, is illustrated in its temporary securementtosaid post.

Said tongs structure incorporates a pair of jaws I4 and E5, interpivotedas'at IS. The jaw 14' has a line of serrations l4. and" a terminal prongN and, similarly, the jaw 15 has a line of serrations l5 and aterminalprong IS. The arm I4 has a slot 14 and, with the arm l5 havingan appropriately placed slot |5, a screw I1 is extended through saidslots. The headed end of the screw ll carries a washer l8, and thethreaded end of said screw, beyond the jaw l5, carries a wing nut l9.Thus, the tongs structure I2 may be securely clamped to any postregardless of its cross-section at the level of application of saidtongs structure, as shown most clearly perhaps in Fig. 1; or in somecases, as when the post is of irregular contour, by also causing one orboth of the prongs 14 and l to dig into the post.

As here shown, the prong [5 is integral with an offset rod or stud 2Hconstituting a pintle member of the hereinabove referred to pintletypehinge mount, this stud reciprocable to some degree relative to thealready mentioned sleeve element 22.

Said sleeve element 22 is an integral portion of an auxiliary structure23, the main member of which is a barrel 24 having a long bot' tom slot24 The already mentioned slide, this designated 25, seated in the barrel24, has a dependent blade 26. This blade is twice stepped, with itsupper part of smaller thickness being shaped to be guided in the slot 2Gbut with rather considerable lateral play in one direction, that is,away from the post if) as indicated in Fig. 6. Below its said upperpart, the blade 26 is thickened so that the lower terminus of suchthickening will provide an undercut shoulder 27. Below this shoulder,the blade 26 is downwardly continued as a bottom plate 28. Said shoulder21, together with a rotatable member 29, which desirably has a knurlededge as shown, constitute the already mentioned gripper. The member 29is pivoted at 30 on the plate 28 and carries a depending handle 3|,operable in a way which should now be clear for gripping the wire H tobe tautened, when the handle 3| is swung in a clockwise direction asviewed in Fig. 3.

The slide 25 is internally threaded for meshing with the thread of amain screw 32 in the barrel 24, and so constitutes a nut travelerrelative to said screw. The screw 32 has, on its end adjacent to theouter end of the barrel 24, a cylindrically enlarged end 32. end of thebarrel 24 and engaging the same and also engaging a collar 32 on thescrew, all as shown most clearly in Fig. 5, is an externally flangedsleeve plug 33; said plug being suitably anchored as by two screws 34.Extended beyond the collar 32' is a lug 32 which enters the forked upperend of a handle 35 coupled to the screw 32 at said lug 32 by a pivot pin36.

The operation of the device is as follows:

With the tongs structure l2 secured to a post, as the post [0, as shown,or secured to such post so that one or both of the prongs I4 and l5 aredug into the post in the case of such irregularly contoured posts ashave already been mentioned, and with such securement of the tongsstructure 12 to said post made fast by turning up the wing nut I9 to therequired extent, the strand of wire i i is manually stretched, with saidwire extended so that it lies between the shoulder 27 and the rockablemember 29, with the handle 3! of the latter vertically dependent. Beforethis last step is performed, the handle 35 is turned in the properdirection to rotate the screw to send the slide 25 Well back toward theplug 33. With the parts thus arranged, the handle 3| of the member 29 isswung in a clockwise direction in Fig. 3 until a tight grip is obtainedat the gripper on the wire ll. Next the screw handle 35 is turned in adirection opposite to that last referred to in connection with Seated insaid said handle, thereby causing the slide 25 to travel toward the post[0, thus tautening the wire for securing the part of the wire lyingacross the post to the latter by one or more staples in a familiar way.Then, on loosening the gripper, and also loosening the wing nut [9, theappliance may be detached from the post, and replaced at a difierentheight location thereon or at a selected level on another post.

The arrow 31 of Fig. 7 indicates an amplitude of swingability of theblade 26 relative to the axis of the screw 32, even with the partsarranged as shown in the drawings, this for a purpose which has alreadybeen explained. For handling an extremely irregular post of a kind whichalso has already been referred to, said slide 25 may be given a swing ofeven greater amplitude such as that indicated by the arrow 38 of Fig. 7,and in some cases accompanied by a bodily movement of the barrel 24 andscrew 32 about the axis of the rod or pintle element 20.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise construction herein disclosed and the right is reserved to allchanges and modifications coming within the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. An appliance for the purpose stated, comprising a variable-jaw yokein the form of a tongs structure having a plurality of interpivotedjaws, screw means for relatively moving said jaws to clamp said yoke toa post, a wire-tautening sub-structure, a pintle-including means forhingedly connecting said sub-structure to said yoke, said sub-structureincluding a casing carrying an elongate guiding means, a slide guided bythe means last named, a wire gripper carried by said slide, and screwmeans for moving the slide and supported by said sub-structure andrestrained against endwise movement relative thereto, the axis of saidpintle being onset from and substantially parallel to the axis of thescrew of the last-named screw means, said slide guiding means and saidslide being relatively so shaped that the slide mayrock laterally of thedirection of elongation of said guide means, said yoke including twojaws having longitudinally extended portions for embracing the oppositesides of a post, one at least of said portions carrying serrations, saidjaws each carrying near its free end a prong, said prongs facing eachother, said pintle being angularly offset from one of said jaws, an endportion of said pintle integrally carrying one of said prongs.

2. An appliance for the purpose stated, comprising a variable-jaw yokein the form of a tongs structure having a plurality of interpivotedjaws, screw means for relatively moving said jaws to clamp said yoke toa post, a wire-tautening sub-structure, a pintle-including means forhingedly connecting said sub-structure to said yoke, said sub-structureincluding a casing carrying an elongate guiding means, a slide guided bythe means last named, a wire gripper carried by said slide, and screwmeans for moving the slide and supported by said sub-structure andrestrained against endwise movement relative thereto, the axis of saidpintle being offset from and substantially parallel to the axis of thescrew of the last-named screw means, said slide guiding means and saidslide being relatively so shaped that the slide may rock laterally ofthe direction of elongation of said guide means,

' said sub-structure having a sleeve portion, and

said pintle being shaped so as to be endwisely insertable into andwithdrawable from such sleeve, for at will merely slippingly couplingand; r

a end projected beyond the face of the said other uncoupling said yokeand said sub-structure.

3. A wire stretching attachment comprising a yoke having a pair ofinterpivoted jaws for engaging diametrically opposite sides of a fencepost to which a stretched length of wire is to be secured, means forclamping the yoke to the fence post, an inwardly directed prongintegrally formed on the free end of one of said jaws, I a wire gripperincluding an elongated barrel for releasable attachment to the free endof the: other of said jaws, a stud secured to the free en j of the saidother jaw with its length extended parallel to the face of the fencepost to which the Wire is to be secured, said stud having oinje" endprojected beyond the face of the said other jaw facing away from thefence post, and means on said barrel releasably rotatably mounting saidwire gripper on the projected one end of sai fd stud, said stud havingits other end projec d beyond the face of said other jaw facing e' fencepost forming an inwardly directed pr on the free end of the said otherjaw.

4. A wire stretching attachment comprisinga yoke having a pair ofinterpivoted jaws for-{fillgaging diametrically opposite sides of afence post to which a stretched length of wire is"-tobe secured, meansfor clamping the yoke tofgthe fence post, an inwardly directed prongintegg formed on the free end of one of said jaws, a wi re leasableattachment to the free end of the other e of said jaws, a stud securedto the free end of the said other jaw with its length extended parallelto the face of the fence post to which the wire is to be secured, saidstud having one jaw facing away from the fence post, and means on saidbarrel releasably rotatably mounting said wire gripper on the projectedone end of said stud, said stud having. its other end projected diameterof said stud to be slipped onto the said one end of said stud. WILLIAMS. FRITZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 'i fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 140,427 Myers July 1, 18731,159,906 Dewees Nov. 9, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country 1 Date87,609 Switzerland Jan. 3, 1921

